


Real Piece of Work

by everamazingfe



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Fake AH Crew, Female Jack, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Minor Violence, library setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 22:09:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14411568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everamazingfe/pseuds/everamazingfe
Summary: In which the gang spends more time at a library than actually heisting and a very tired and scared Vagabond meets the woman of his dreams (and eventually his nightmares).





	Real Piece of Work

**Author's Note:**

> Based off this tumblr post: allhailthenerdmage.tumblr.com/post/164640067246 and originally posted to my tumblr transboyvagabond.tumblr.com with minor edits made for spelling/grammar fixes just like always.

When Jack and Ryan first meet, the former doesn't realize that the latter is the Vagabond who chose the privately owned but very public library as his hiding spot. The mask and jacket had been ditched, thrown away in a dumpster so he could collect it when the heat died down, and then he ran. It was the one place all the cops and the crooks in the city wouldn't touch. He was no longer the Vagabond, he was Ryan, and the library was the only place he could go.

Geoff was in his usual spot, reading to the kids who showed up after school. Gavin was sitting by the computers making sure they were in top condition, Jeremy was slumped in a beanbag chair reading, and Michael and Jack were putting returned books back on the shelves. Ryan didn't know why he gravitated to the woman, maybe it was because she wasn't as busy or as angry looking as the others. And somehow, she knew that the twenty-something boy with fear in his eyes and a frame thinner than Gavin's wasn't there to check out a book despite the way he nervously asked where the Jules Verne books would be. Jack showed him, and as he pulled one from the shelf she informed him that he'd need a library card to check out books. Thinking they cost money, Ryan began to put it back on the shelf. He had none to spare for some books, not if he wanted to eat.

The way his face lit up when he was told it was free was something Jack would never forget. And that's how the two began talking, finding weird common ground between them (Jack wasn't a fan of Jules Verne but she did like science fiction movies, and from there they just went on and on about movies they liked). He left with a stack of books that night. Not because he wanted to read them, but because she liked them and he couldn't say no to her suggestions. With a stack of books in one hand and his jacket in the other, he went home to an apartment that felt colder than the library, and somehow less like home.

Another week passed until Ryan returned to the library, cleaner and not so afraid but somehow thinner than he had been, arms shaking under the weight of the books. "Maybe not so many this time, okay?" He responded, cracking a grin when Jack asked him what he wanted to take out, but his eyes were sunken and she could tell something was off. They spent hours talking, probably well past the usual closing time, until Geoff said he had to go in a voice so gruff he got scared and forgot about his books with how fast he’d left. Jack left them tucked behind the desk with a note that said 'For Ryan' so he could get them the next time he was in.

It was two weeks until he stopped in again, sporting a split lip and a black eye and the second she saw him, Jack was grabbing his hands and pulling him right out the door with his books in her arm. "You need to eat, I'm taking you out to lunch." Ryan wanted to protest, but the card had the name 'Geoff L Ramsey' on it and his stomach wouldn't let him turn away charity from the biggest crime boss in the city. (The crew still teases them and says this was their first date)

A few months of Ryan coming in once a week, Jack taking him out for food and sending him home with enough leftovers to last a few days, and they were closer than ever. They'd go for walks together afterward, all over the city until they got back to the library where they would sit in the science fiction section and just talk. Geoff warmed up to him as well, everyone in the crew who hung around did, but they still didn't know of his connection to the Vagabond. Even as Ryan and Jack began to get together outside of the days he'd go to the library, his frame slowly starting to fill out as she reminded him to eat, kept his apartment stocked up with fresh groceries and leftovers. Those get-togethers slowly turned into dates, usually ending with watching some of those sci-fi movies they loved so much on Ryan's couch and kisses shared before she had to go back to the penthouse. He felt bad for keeping her in the dark, but he didn't want to ruin what they had.

It wasn’t until Ryan burst into the library one day, jacket and mask still on but his shirt underneath stained red, that they would find out. There was no one in but the crew and the second he was through the door guns were drawn and pointed at him. The Vagabond was a big name in the city, a man to be feared, broad and imposing and terrifying. But it was all in the mask and jacket, they hid what was underneath.

"No, wait, don't shoot," he croaked out, pulling the mask off and dropping it to the floor. The crew didn't react, too stunned that the man they'd come to known, the sweet man who treated Jack right and took out books and had begun to help out, was also the same man their crew was in competition with. The man they worried would all come for them.

Jack was the first to react, shoving Ryan backward by his chest and seething in anger even as he doubled over with a sharp gasp, kicking him once he was down right where the bullet had entered his side until Michael pulled her away. "You monster! You fucking asshole!" The words were filled with venom but Ryan was too busy trying to gasp for air and blink back tears to notice. Jack was so furious that she didn’t notice the choked out, ‘please,’ that came from him. It was a betrayal, fast and fierce and of the worst kind. She accused him of taking advantage of her kindness and her crew’s money until he collapsed from blood loss. The berating continued even as he was unconscious and being patched up by Jeremy and Gavin, and when he came to, Ryan was met with a simple and pained question: Why?

He explained everything without hesitation, including why he’d shown up at the library that first day and why he chose to seek sanctuary in Fake AH’s library. Geoff’s library. He explained that although the Vagabond was a big name, it didn’t bring in big money. It took a few explanations for Jack to get the picture that the man she’d come to love hadn’t been a rich man who was freeloading off of her like Gavin had for years, he was a man in genuine need. “You should’ve known how broke I was from the state of my apartment,” he chided, taking a chance at letting out a laugh despite the way it pulled at his side. 

“I was always a bit too preoccupied to notice,” she responded in a tone to match. “Why? Why did you never mention this sooner?” 

Ryan could only let out a long sigh in response, trying to search his brain for a decent enough reason, one that Jack would accept after knowing him as simply Ryan for so long. There was the fact that he'd been so caught up in Jack and everything they did together that it slipped his mind. It also didn't help that he was nearly ashamed of being the Vagabond. He was at the top of Los Santos' most wanted list but he couldn't get a job that broke more than a few grand each time, money that was quickly eaten up by rent, bills, and ammo. "The Vagabond is a shit criminal, I didn't want to bring your crew shame by making you associate with me." No one asked him to elaborate on what 'shit criminal' meant because they already knew. A poor one. One that was barely above those that stole snacks from gas stations to survive. 

Jack hummed as she heard Ryan's explanation, eyeing him for a moment before leaving. Geoff followed her out, and there was a quiet discussion that quickly turned loud before the doors of the library whirred open and whirred shut behind her as she left. 

An hour later, she returned. There was a slight singe to her hair and black dust coated her skin and her clothes, but there was a grin on her face and a bag of takeout in hand. She passed little containers of food out to everyone, getting to Ryan last. When he reached out to take the container from her, she pulled her hand back at the last second with a smirk. "You ever do some dumb shit like that again, I'll have to kill you. Got it? Coming into the library with your mask on. What if there were kids?"

"Jack, it's like ten at night. There wasn't gonna be any kids. Cut him some slack."

"Jeremy, you're not helping!"

"I get it, Jack. Sorry. For everything." This time when Ryan reached out for the container, she didn't pull it away from him. Instead, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

"I hope this means you'll be visiting the library more often."


End file.
